Staying Happy and Healthy During the Pandemic

The spring of 2020 will go down in history for people to remember in years to come. We will remember the state of emergency, then the national emergency. We will

remember the stay at home orders being issued in every county to flatten the curve and keep people safe. We will remember precious lives lost, young and old. COVID-19 has taken a lot of things away from us this year, but how we react is what matters the most. This is a time when we can all come together and do our part to save lives just by staying at home — it is as simple as that. Our world is relying on technology more than ever right now. I’ve never been so thankful for social media. It is giving us the opportunity to virtually come together and continue to socialize, work and create during a pandemic. Besides social media, there are many other things that can be practiced while in quarantine. We can all take this time to focus on our hobbies or talents that we didn’t have the time to focus on before. 

Here’s a list of ideas to part-take in while in quarantine:

Meditation

• • Take a small portion out of your day (even 10 minutes will work) to slow down and focus on your breathing. It reduces stress, improves decision making and increases mindfulness. There are infinite mindfulness meditations and guided practices on Youtube, but here are some specific guided meditation websites. 
  • https://chopra.com/articles/guided-meditations (The Chopra Center)
  • https://www.fragrantheart.com/cms/free-audio-meditations (Fragrant Heart)
  • https://www.tarabrach.com/guided-meditations/ (Tara Brach)

Exercise at home

• • There’s plenty of exercises accessible for your home environment. 
  • Make your own at-home exercise plans to share with your friends! It has become a trend for some Instagram personalities to share how they are getting their workouts in without the gym.

Catch up on reading

• • Sometimes it can be hard to read a book of your choice for fun when there’s so much to do in a day. But now since we’re at home ALL day, it gives us a chance to catch up on the books we’ve been wanting to read. 

Learn a language

• • Duolingo is a fun and interactive app that offers English, Spanish, German, French, Italian, and Portuguese for free.

Refine your Portfolio/Resume

• • Now is the perfect time to assemble a portfolio (if you don’t have one already) and create/update your resume. Dig deep to make your work stand out!
  • The Career Center has the extended version of their popular Interview and Resume guide PDF on their website to help self-refine your resume.  This link will provide all the right information: https://www.k-state.edu/careercenter/documents/resumeinterviewguide.pdf

Spring clean

• • There’s nothing like a good ‘ole spring cleaning to boost your motivation and productivity. A clean environment = a fresh mindset. 
  • This is the right time to organize your closet, dresser, or vanity that’s been put off for some time now. 
  • Rearrange your bedroom or living room. Treat yourself with a new feng shui to get energy flowing in a new way. 

Foster an animal 

• • Don’t be alone in quarantine! Try contacting your local shelter and ask if they are in need of fosters (most are at the moment) if you’re capable of doing so. Save a pet’s life!

Cooking/baking

• • Experiment with new recipes! Or just improve your overall c

    

    ooking and baking skills. 

  • One recipe I’ve been saving and can’t wait to make is Cream Cheese Sheet Cake. https://www.tasteofhome.com/recipes/cream-cheese-sheet-cake/ 
  • Taste of Home has tons of delicious and unique recipes!

Plan ahead

• • With the major switch to online classes, some of our schedules have gotten a little hectic. Take some time to go through all your assignments for the rest of the semester and write them in your planner or calendar. 

Get dressed up

• • Yes, get dressed up to walk your dog, to get your mail, or just to sit and watch Netflix all day. Boost your confidence and it will boost your mood for the day. 

Go outside, but make sure to stay six feet away from people

• • Quarantine life doesn’t mean you can’t get ANY fresh air. You can still go for a walk around the block, or just sit outside and sunbathe for awhile. Vitamin D is still essential! Unless you are showing symptoms of the virus. In that case, it’s important to stay inside away from people at all times. 

Social distancing doesn’t mean no socializing at all 

• • Wave to your neighbors, go on a walk, Netflix watch party, FaceTime. With our growing virtual world, there’s tons of ways to still stay in contact with people. 

Most importantly, remember that we are doing all of this to save lives and hopefully bring back “normal” soon! 

Post a picture of some interesting activities that y’all are doing while in quarantine and tag us @manhappeninmagazine to be featured on our socials!